This set of images occurred after the
Conway Springs
wedge shots. I had to drive south a few mile to get a road east. I also had
to navigate through a roadblock, fortunately they let me pass. In retrospect I
think I would have been better to stay where I was and shoot east into the
darkness. The large Conway Springs tornado rapidly narrowed down to the trunk
shown in the first image and I missed that transition while driving, although I
could see it going to my north. While driving I could see occasional ground
flashes to my northeast. Watching that area closely while proceeding east I saw
a narrow elephant trunk tornado about 3 miles east of the large tornado. Then
it lit up a bunch of power lines again with flashes reflecting off the cloud
base above the tornado's debris cloud. I immediately stopped to video tape the
action, it was totally dark at this time so I had to wait for another flash to
frame the the tornado. Meanwhile the west tornado was still in progress and I
could see ambient light reflection off the side of the funnel. Then a third
tornado formed west of the large one and I had three tornadoes in progress at
the same time. All these images are shot with the video camera into total
darkness which accounts for the grain. Unfortunately there was not time for me
to set up the digital still camera, that would have been great. This storm
system had kept me on the run since it started many hours ago near Alva,
Oklahoma and this was the final performance.

The original Conway Springs wedge tornado narrowed down to an
elephant trunk in the darkness. It was visible in the darkness. Tornadoes with
a smooth laminar wall are occasionally seen in total darkness as light reflects
off the side of the funnel.

The tornado is slowly leaving me as they always get the
hypotenuse going northeast. I was beginning to run out of good zigzag roads and
also nearing a higher population area which would slow me down.

My first shot of the tornado hidden in darkness to the east. My
guess on this funnel was that in formed in the shear of the inflow jet of the
larger Conway Springs tornado then slowly moved west to converge with the main
funnel. This shot was after I saw it hit the power lines.

Another tornado quickly forms to my north or about 2 miles
behind the Conway Springs tornado. So we had three tornados in progress at this
time. Hidden the grain you may be able to see the debris cloud. This tornado
was violent but I don't know how long it lasted.

Here the two funnels appear to be merging as the large one
travels northeast and the small one continues west. I assure you, seeing this
at night will increase your heart rate!

It seemed for a while the two tornadoes were not
going to get closer than this image depicts. I could see little movement in the
smaller east tornado.

As strange as it seems the old Conway Springs tornado was
getting larger. That is, the condensation trunk of the tornado had thickened in
size during this time. Had it entered an area of higher convergence and shear
due to the other tornado?

Finally the two tornadoes get closer together, I did get a shot
after this that shows the small tornado behind or north of the large funnel. I
never did see them merge though. Perhaps other chasers can verify
this.

During this time the other tornado directly to my north is
still in progress, but getting almost impossible to see. I did not capture the
demise of this funnel, I just lost it in the darkness. After these shots I
tried to drive north and that resulted in congestion and road blocks where the
east tornado had brought down power lines.

If I expected to continue the chase I would have to drive
further east and wait for the storm to approach. I tried this tactic but by the
time I got on the supercell again the tornados had dissipated. More storms with
continuous lightning formed to my southwest and approached my area. The
lightning was spectacular from these cells, but I did not see any tornadic
activity.